Nexus 6 - Low in-call speaker volume | Hacker News Reader

Nexus 6 - Low in-call speaker volume

code.google.com

30 pointsjroakes27 comments

I purchased a used Nexus 5 because I got tired of all modifications and dropped support on my verizon branded phone. I assumed that as a Google product it would have the best functioning version of Android.

But in the past few weeks it's become readily apparent that Android 5.0 is beta software. It just has too many major issues like the one in OP. For me, the most major issue is the memory leak that causes the entire home screen to be knocked out of memory. Usually a few times a week the leak is so bad that the currently running app will be closed down while it's in the foreground!

The only thing that has consistently frustrated me with Android on Nexus devices (Can't speak for non-Nexus devices) is the "safety" feature when plugging anything into the headphone slot.

Seemingly randomly it will cut volume to 50% to protect hearing and you can't turn up the volume until you agree to a notification warning you about the potential dangers of high-volume listening.

I use this in my car. I need the volume max -1 click. Plugging in my phone and then wondering where the music is is infuriating. I don't want to have to pull over out of traffic just to unlock my phone so I can agree to a notification and then turn up the volume again. This wouldn't be a problem if it only asked me once, but it tends to "forget" at random times, usually when I'm in a rush and don't want to fuck with my phone.

You can disable that if you root your phone or install a custom ROM. Just saying.

Yes, that's true and I do know that, but the reason I bought a Nexus device and not the better Galaxy was vanilla android. I'd rather stay away from a ROM.

Although Google is getting on my nerves lately so I've been thinking of switching anyway.

You don't need a custom ROM. There's an Xposed plugin to do it. One of the first things I installed on my Moto X (2013)!

No shit.

This should be a disclaimer when buying the phone then.

Iphone does the same thing when the media volume is set above the "safe" limit. It's a regulatory requirement not some Android bug.

From where did you get that regulatory requirement information?

"Now all personal music players sold in the EU after February 2013 are expected to have a default sound limit of 85dB.

The user can choose to override the limit so that the sound level can be increased up to maximum 100dB. If the user overrides the limit, warnings about the risks must be repeated every 20 hours of listening time. "

via http://www.bbc.com/news/health-21294537

The "repeated every 20 hours" would explain why OP was seeing the warning seemingly randomly.

No, it doesn't.

I can see the leaks manifest during app switching as well. It takes longer than 3 seconds to change.

> But in the past few weeks it's become readily apparent that Android 5.0 is beta software. It just has too many major issues like the one in OP. For me, the most major issue is the memory leak that causes the entire home screen to be knocked out of memory. Usually a few times a week the leak is so bad that the currently running app will be closed down while it's in the foreground!

This is why after a T-Mobile G2, a Nexus One, a Galaxy Nexus, a Nexus 4, and a Nexus 5 I finally moved to an iPhone 5s. I refuse to spend any more of my life dealing with a terrible product.

I understand perfectly this because I had a Galaxy Nexus and as soon as I got Jelly Bean update Bluetooth stopped working properly. Now I have a Nexus 5 and it's by far the best phone I had but recently and as much as I like Lollipop this kind of bugs without updates are unacceptable. For use iOS also had have problems and I remember my first week with iPad air 2 where safari crashed the whole system but Apple managed to fix this.

So this leaves my thinking I will not get a Nexus as my next phone. I would rather get an iPhone or a HTC/Samsung. I won't do the same mistake for the third time. I love nexus and his potential but Google doesn't care about their costumers.

OP: did you edit the title? it was "Should The Inability To Hear On A Nexus 6 Be A Small (Low Priority) Issue?" and it looked appropriate enough to me. This is about Google's neglect more than about the issue itself.

I agree. Not sure why the title was edited. This was my post. It was my intention to get conversation going around why Google feels it is low priority for a phone to be able to fulfill its primary function effectively.

It's shameful that somebody at Yc feels like protecting Google (or anyone) by switching topic titles.

Depends on how many video/audio ads Google wants to shove down your throat. Not many yet, so I guess it's not a high priority yet ;)

Google has the annoying habit of ignoring bugs that don't affect a lot of users, no matter how critical they are. This has been discussed previously on HN, not long ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8803118

Google has the annoying habit of ignoring bugs that don't affect a lot of users, no matter how critical they are.

Is there a cultural thing within Google, where people talk about how stupid and deluded general users are?

Nexus phones have had bad bugs at launch since day one.

I had on of the older one's (2? 3?) and it had a bug where it would randomly restart during a call. Restart -- 3 min of booting before you can call back. This was an issue for something like 8 months after launch before it was fixed.

Or the Nexus 4 bug where notifications wouldn't be seen when the phone went to sleep when wi-fi was enabled. 4.4.4 fixed it, but the fix was a really long time coming. If you were rooted, it was a one-line fix to some config file.

Amusingly, my iPhone 5 would do also reboot in-call once in a while (iOS7) but the call didn't drop... perhaps it was just re-laucnhing the WM (Springboard)?

The amount of issues that have emerged with Lollipop on all the Nexus phones is absolutely unacceptable for a Phone Operating System.

And Google's stewardship is starting to show cracks.

Starting to show cracks? It seems to me like it's only getting better.

Wow...I've been burned by bad speakers before, and I was holding out for the Verizon launch on the March 12th. The phone looks amazing, but I'm not willing to risk it, especially if this issue gets marked as a low priority. Maybe it is time to get an iphone after all.

For what it's worth, I just recently upgraded from Nexus 5 to Nexus 6 and I have had absolutely no problems with the device, especially with call volume. Literally everything is a step up.

I wouldn't let this sour you entirely, if your device has a problem, return it for a new one. I had an issue with my Play-store-purchased Nexus 4's earphone jack, prolly my fault, Google replaced it within a few days, paid for shipping and everything.

There are a lot of business decisions that go into applying resources to problems, and we can't all assume we know those business decisions and the circumstances that are involved with making them. This could be a very small but vocal segment of the nexus 6 user-base, if it is a small problem, it should be treated as small priority.

Personally, as a type-1 diabetic, it sucks seeing research done specifically for type-2 diabetes, but, unfortunately there are less of us, so it's seen as a lower priority.

Hmm, sounds annoying. I remember the Galaxy Nexus having a painfully low loudspeaker volume, but never problems with the phone speaker.]

I've wanted to hear things like podcasts on the private speaker before--would be nice if they exposed that as part of this fix.

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